Passion week. That’s what they call this week between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday. The passion of the Christ – far more than just a movie. Christian believers around the world will celebrate this week with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Passover, Good Friday, Holy Saturday (or what the disciples probably considered a very dark day when Jesus was buried in the grave), and Resurrection Sunday. But the big focus of all will be on the Cross and the Resurrection.
We wear it as a symbol around our neck, and we carve it as tattoos into our skin. Some see Jesus still on it, while others see it empty. But I hope we all know that the cross was never a symbol of hope or grace until Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified and hung on that tree between two thieves.
The cross was used as a practice of Roman torture, which they had perfected to an art form – if you could call it that. It was a sign of cursing to the Jews. Anyone who was hung on a tree was under a curse. Did you know that?
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” Galatians 3:13
So in perfect keeping with prophesy in Scripture, Jesus was lifted up on a tree, under God’s curse, because in His dying He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world.
If we don’t understand that we, along with the whole earth were put under a curse the moment Adam sinned, then we don’t understand why Jesus had to reverse that curse . If we were ever going to be free of that curse’s hold on us, someone had to break it.
Sin brings a curse.
The cross put the curse on Jesus.
Jesus sets us free of the curse if we but look to Him and believe.
So simple and yet so profound. And it’s the simplicity of faith in what Jesus did on the cross that trips us up. The cross offends us because it points back to the garden and sin. And to accept that Jesus had to die for us because we are sinners offends our pride. It doesn’t take a long look inside of ourselves to know that it’s true.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8
So we are either offended or deceived if we don’t understand why He came. He came to save and restore what we could not.
All hell thought they had won a great victory by putting the Son of God to death. If they had known the real reason, His true purpose in allowing such a thing, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of Glory.
“None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 1 Corinthians 2:8
In The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, if the white witch had known the deeper magic, she would never have killed Aslan. She didn’t see what was coming.
The disciples of Jesus didn’t see it coming either, even though He continually told them what would happen. For a time the truth was hidden from them. Until…
If Jesus had not risen, come to life again, then all claims that He was God would have been proven false. There would be no Christianity because there would be no Christ. No Messiah to believe.
Jesus made a lot of claims that He was God, that God was His Father and He was one with the Father. He told his followers that He was about to lay down His life. No one could take His life from Him without His permission. He gave it freely.
“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.” John 10:17-18
He even released His Spirit by His decision at just the right time. The curtain separating us from God in the temple ripped in two from top to bottom opening the way. There need be no veil between us any longer. Jesus tore that veil and made the way so that we could be set free to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
“Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” Mark 15:37-38
When Jesus broke the bonds of death and burst open the sealed tomb, He declared victory over death and sin. He came to win and He won most victoriously. And in His resurrection, He fulfilled many prophecies and promises that had been waiting to be kept for thousands upon thousands of years.
“But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.
The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”
Then they remembered that he had said this.” Luke 24:1-8
“Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:25-27
With good reason to those of us who believe. If we know Him, if we believe in Jesus’ death on that cross, His burial, and resurrection, then we are no longer under the curse. We will live eternally with our Savior. There is much to rejoice in that truth!
For those who don’t quite see the significance of all of this yet, I encourage you to read the Scriptures to see if these things are so. The Jewish congregation of Berea did that before they would believe a word of what Paul taught them of Christ. “They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.” (Acts 17:11b)
The Bereans studied the Scriptures and found that what Jesus did proved He fulfilled the prophecies that Messiah would fulfill. And they believed.
All of us should follow such a studious example. Don’t believe simply because someone tells you to. Search the Scriptures to see if these things are so. You might find evidence in science or archeology or other methods of learning, but if you search those, don’t leave the Scriptures out of your looking. God promised:
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
May this passion week give you great zeal to know the God of Resurrection. The Messiah of the Cross. To know Him is to not be offended by Him but to believe in Him. I pray this is your day to do just that.
#thecross #resurrection #easter #JesusChrist #Savior #Messiah #whythecrossoffends #whyresurrectionmatters
